Chaps 3>7: Monkey runs amok

JW Chapters 3 & 4: Spiritual training incomplete, Monkey is arrogant.

Monkey returns to his kingdom and destroys the Monster King
of Havoc who has taken over his kingdom in his absence. Fearful of another
invasion he then begins training and organizing his monkeys to be an army. Not
having any real weapons he uses his powers to steal all the weapons from a
neighboring kingdom. Not having a proper weapon for himself he goes to the
Dragon King and demands a weapon worthy of his powers. The Dragon King gives
him weapon after weapon, which Monkey rejects as too light. Even though the
Dragon King says he has nothing else Monkey refuses to leave. The Dragon King
finally remembers a heavy iron rod that was stuck in the water to measure the
height of the River. This is acceptable to Monkey, who then demands a marital
outfit to go with it. The King says he has nothing of the sort, but again
Monkey refuses to leave until he gets something. Worried by Monkey’s obnoxious
behavior combined with his martial powers the Dragon King calls his brothers,
who are able to supply Monkey with his outfit. At first his Brothers want to
fight Monkey, but the Dragon King assures them that this will do no good
because of Monkey’s abilities. They then decide to file a grievance with the
Emperor of Heaven.

Monkey then forms an alliance with other kings in the area.
They all get drunk and Monkey passes out. Two agents of the Underworld, where
people go when they die, come to seize Monkey, saying it is his time. Still
drunk Monkey accompanies them but then sobers up when confronted with what is
happening. Death is calling him. He demands to see the Death register and then
erases his name along with many other monkeys. The Kings of the Underworld
sensing his martial prowess let him go unharmed but also file a grievance with
Heaven.

Two elements of note: First Monkey’s aborted training produced
an excellent martial artist but not a good person. In the martial tradition
there were and are countless bullies who fall into this category. Indeed much
martial literature focuses entirely on martial prowess with not even a nod to
helping out those in distress or any kind of social responsibility. They
cultivate jing-chi without the shźn. Despite their prowess the Fire consumes
them rapidly. It is necessary to cultivate mind as well as body to be light and
subtle enough to pass through the Flames.

Master Ni was completely aware of this. While cultivating
our physical skills he was continually eroding out personal ego. Indeed his Tai
Chi and Sword classes were merely a front for spiritual training. At one point
he said that as you cultivate the Tao that two demons grow along with it. One
is in the head and the other is in the crotch. The demon in the crotch leads
the person to dissipate his vital energies in sexual exploits. The demon in the
head leads to the excesses of pride. Monkey was overwhelmed by the second of
the two. Instead of humbly concealing his powers until they were needed, he
arrogantly demanded what he wanted because he could. This dangerous aspect of
incomplete training is a recurring theme throughout the Journey. Regularly those who have studied for a short while
with a Master threaten the Quest.

Second Journey
presents a permeable vision of Heaven, Hell and Earth. Mortals can pass from
one to the other. Further these supernatural worlds are organized into a giant
bureaucracy with the Jade Emperor at the top. This reflects the Chinese
imperial system. All the rulers of the different realms are subservient to the
Jade Emperor, the ruler of Heaven, and apply to him with petitions for
assistance in keeping and restoring order in the realm. However just like the
head of any organization the Jade Emperor is not all powerful like the
transcendent Biblical God of the West but instead is in charge of making
decisions employing all the magnificent resources that he has available to him
as ruler of the Universe. Reiterating the supernatural world of the Chinese is
patterned after their political system rather than being otherworldly as are
the Western conceptions of Heaven and Hell.

JW Chapters 5 & 6: Mind without Intent is Dangerous

Presented with petitions from both the Dragon Kings and from
the Kings of the Underworld complaining of Monkey’s rude and disruptive
behavior, the Jade Emperor asks for advice. Some suggest that they simply send
an army to subdue Monkey. However Venus the planet suggests that they give him
a position in Heaven to neutralize and tame his powers. The Jade Emperor agrees
and invites Monkey to become the Imperial Horse Keeper. Honored Monkey takes
the position and does a good job at it, even enjoying the work. But then some of
the other divine inhabitants, when questioned by Monkey as to the status of the
position, reveal to him that it is the lowest position in Heaven, but that he
can work his way up with persistence.

Although he has enjoyed his work, Monkey is furious and feels
insulted. Having only cultivated his physical powers with no real spiritual
development Monkey is attached to his idea of status, not realizing that it is
just another mental construct. In a huff Monkey left Heaven to return to his
kingdom. After hearing from Monkey how he was showed such disrespect a demon
suggests that he call himself ‘The Great Sage, Equal to Heaven’. Monkey
immediately has a banner made proclaiming his new title.

The Pride of Mind is unequaled. Monkey’s wisdom and
compassion for the mortal creatures of this realm was almost nonexistent. So
call himself a Sage was ludicrous. Further to refer to himself as Equal to
Heaven was an insult to the entire supernatural order. This is the normal
condition of unbridled Mind, thinking himself superior to all with his logic
faculties, when instead he is quite ignorant of the subtleties of Being. Mind
is meant to be the Servant of Being rather than the Master. This also reflects
the arrogance of the scientific community with all their precise equations,
when the rest of us exist between the cracks.

In the meantime the Jade Emperor has decided to send some of
his best warriors to subdue Monkey before he causes more trouble. But Monkey
soundly defeats them. Because of his superior martial abilities Venus suggests
that Monkey be given a meaningless position in Heaven with the title he has
given himself - again to neutralize his great powers and prevent him from
causing more mischief. Again Monkey is pleased with himself and his position.

However after a few more years the Jade Emperor decides to
give Monkey a position guarding the Peaches of Immortality to give him
something to do to channel his boundless energies. Monkey sees the luscious
peaches and immediately begins eating them. When the Empress’ Maidens come to
gather some peaches for the Grand Festival of Heavenly Peaches they discover
that the best fruit have already been eaten. Simultaneously Monkey finds that
he has not been invited to this festival because his position has only a name
with no status and no salary. Again he is furious because Mind has confused
concepts for reality. Like most humans everywhere his happiness and peace is
disturbed by ideas, not actual conditions.

Monkey then uses his powers to disguise himself as a god so
that he can go to the festival, even though he wasn’t invited. Once there he
can’t restrain himself, gorging himself on the food and getting drunk on the
wine. After this orgy of consumption he realizes that he is going to get in big
trouble. He steals some more wine and fights his way out of Heaven, returning
home to his kingdom.

When he receives petitions from multiple sources complaining
about Monkey’s disgraceful behavior, the Jade Emperor sends his entire force
down to capture Monkey. As he is consuming the heavenly wine with his friends,
his minions come to warn him of the arrival of the heavenly forces. Unperturbed
Monkey responds, “Nothing should interrupt the glow from a good glass of wine.”
His subjects return again with more warnings. Monkey again says, “Don’t bother
me when I’m enjoying my wine.” The third time they say that the heavenly forces
are breaking down the doors. Monkey responds angrily, “Have they no breeding,
interrupting my drinking like this? Now I’m mad.”

Monkey enters into battle, defeats everything that Heaven
throws at him. The unfocused Mind is a powerful opponent. At last Kuan-yin, the
Buddhist Bodhisattva, arrives and sends one of her disciples down to subdue
Monkey. The two are about equal but then the heavenly armies defeat the Monkey’s
army. Discouraged Monkey retreats and goes through multiple transformations to
avoid capture. Lao Tzu, the original Taoist Immortal, then arrives at the
battleground to throw a net over Monkey to prevent his escape. Monkey is
captured at last through the combined powers of Buddhism and Taoism. It is not
easy to subdue the mischievous Monkey-mind. “The impish monkey in rebellion
disturbs heaven and earth.” But now …

“Fraud and impudence, now punished by the Law:

Heroics grand will fade in the briefest of time.”JW I,
p165

JW Chapter 7: Buddha Tames the Monkey-Mind

Now that Heaven has Monkey they don’t know what to do with
him. Agitated by his mental illusions he challenged heaven and the underworld,
but became an Immortal in the process after eating the Peaches of Immortality.
Lao Tzu says that he will reduce Monkey to just his pure essence by cooking him
in his brazier of the eight trigrams of Yin Yang theory. This doesn’t work at
all. Even after cooking him for hours Monkey escapes, knocking over the brazier
with its coals, toughened and unharmed. The Yin Yang theory while applying to
many things is not comprehensive. It can’t contain the immensity of the mind in
its constructs. Science while powerful can’t explain everything, nor will it
ever.

More powerful than ever Monkey goes on a rampage, wanting to
conquer heaven itself and proclaim himself ruler. We can see that the pursuit
of power is also associated with Monkey. Mind combined with Body without Spirit
to provide guidance. He rampages recklessly, creating great disturbances for
any who are unfortunate enough to get in his path. Unfortunately this
destructive category of human being include many of our leaders, who wreak
havoc on our planet through their unbalanced behavior. Well-developed military -
Body, and well developed intellect with scientific technology - Mind, but no
spiritual intent to channel and guide this irresponsible power.

Monkey causes such disruptions that Buddha is called in to
help. Monkey appeals to Buddha saying that he deserves to be ruler of all
because he is so powerful. The countries with the most powerful armies feel
that they deserve to be in charge because of their earthly power, not realizing
how limited their vision is. Buddha responds: “If you can leave my realm I will
bow to you as ruler of Heaven and Earth.” Monkey immediately dashes off to the
furthest corner of the Universe, where he finds five pillars. He urinates on
the pillars and signs one of the pillars saying ‘Monkey was here.’ He speeds
back to the Buddha ready to claim his prize. The Buddha holds up his hand and
says, “Take a whiff.” It smells of monkey urine. Monkey hasn’t even escaped
Buddha’s hand. Buddha then turns over his hand with Monkey underneath. Buddha’s
hand turns into a mountain, with Monkey locked underneath to keep him out of
trouble for the time being. Monkey has finally submitted.

“From the Brazier of 8
Trigrams the Great Sage escapes.
Beneath the Five Phases Mountain the Monkey of the Mind is stilled.” JW I, p166

Summarizing: the beginning section
of Journey began with Monkey attaining
marvelous powers, including immortality, through self-cultivation. But his
training was incomplete. Monkey as sense, or the discriminating mind, has no
sense of moral or social responsibility because he has not become focused
behind true intent, true earth. Hence he is motivated by pride and anger, with
no real sense of purpose behind his desire to become ruler of heaven. Monkey
because of intense purification has great powers and the ability to distinguish
truth from falsehood. Unfortunately because these powers have not been yoked to
true intent, they are used irresponsibly and wreak havoc upon Heaven above, the
Underworld below, and the Earth in-between. However Lao Tzu with his alchemical
practices aren’t enough to subdue the Mind. It takes Buddha Tathataga, to tame
Monkey. He pins him under the 5 phases mountain, where he remains for 500
years. Without a real sense of direction, true intent, the discriminating mind
is useless, if not dangerous. The down side of being an academic is the
tendency to subjugate true intent to the accumulation of information in the
pursuit of pride of knowledge.

We need Monkey to vanquish evil

The subjugation of Mind is the yogic side of Buddhism. But
this is just a stage, not the destination. Although Monkey, the discriminating
mind, is pinned beneath the mountain, this is not good or balanced. The world
doesn’t get to have his great powers of seeing through falsehood and fighting
for justice. Although pride and anger are neutralized when the monkey mind is
imprisoned, desire runs rampant with nothing to control it. Without true sense
to control desire, true intent is corrupted by desire, false mercury. Without
an engaged and subdued Mind, desire leads the individual through existence,
dissipating his energy, leading to a premature death. This becomes the normal
course of life. Only through Monkey can we ‘steal a march on heaven[i]’
and reverse the natural order of things.

[i]We’ve mentioned the phrase ‘stealing a
march on Heaven’ a few times, but what does it mean?

When two armies are fighting, each hopes to seize the
strategic advantage. This could be anything from positioning. i.e. seizing the
higher ground, to a surprise attack. To achieve this advantage one of the
armies marches all night or takes a surprising but excruciating route. This is
known as ‘stealing a march’ to gain an
advantage which could mean the difference between victory or defeat.

A weaker army must use this techniques to avoid
destruction. An attacking army might use this technique to surprise a well
defended opponent. There are many celebrated examples of this throughout
military history. Hannibal takes his elephants over the Alps. Bohemond sneaks
into a Middle Eastern city at night to open the gates allowing the Crusaders to
conquer the city and eventually the region. During World War II an American
General inspires his troops to take a forced march over a perilous course to
surprise the Japanese and turn the course of the war Southeast Asia.

So stealing a march
has to do with a supreme effort to change the normal course of events. In like
manner stealing a march on heaven
has to do with a superhuman effort to change one’s life course towards their
normal fate. Perhaps an individual is fated to die anonymously without acclaim.
If this same person can steal a march on heaven he can escape this fate and achieve his Destiny. My
author hopes that his persistently superhuman effort to write me might allow
him to attain Immortal status.